[photopress:motorbikes_1.jpg,full,alignright]From the Internet comes that the story that from January some 260,000 registered motorcycles in Guangzhou, one of the biggest cities in China, will be banned. So at a conservate estimate, that is $26 million scrapped by legal mandate. Which may be considered, by the users, a tad inconvenient.
Guangzhou is China’s fifth-largest auto market. That gives you 900,000 vehicles jamming its roads. Take out all the motorcycles and scooters and you have a potential jam of cars which is for the Guiness Book of Records.
This is a great story but it is not, I think, precisely right although over 200 sites ran it pretty much word for word and in the same format.
On the Government site we have translated from the Chinese:
On the afternoon of November 30, a press conference on the banning of motorcycles in the downtown areas of Guangzhou was held by traffic police department, announcing that compensation will be paid for motorcycles that are discarded by March 31, 2007.
For the convenience of citizens, four companies have been appointed to handle the procedures for the discarding and recalling of motorcycles commencing next Monday. Citizens who need assistance can make reservations by phone.
From May 2004 till now, 300,000 motorcycles, mainly those without licenses or with fake licenses have been detained. From January 1, 2005 to October 20, 2006, 8,148 motorcycles were discarded by the Motorcycle Discard Center. Compensation of RMB 8,780,000 and tax reimbursement of RMB 336,000 have been paid.
Big progress has been made in the banning of motorcycles in Guangzhou, such as lessening of traffic jams, obvious decrease in traffic accidents, and decrease in crimes committed by motorcycle riders.
Officials of the traffic police department said that they would make efforts to implement the third stage of the banning of motorcycles and to further strengthen traffic management. Strict punishment will be imposed on motorcycle riders who drive in banned areas.
(Translated by Guangzhou Association of Foreign Affairs Translators)
So this is an ongoing yarn. It is not a sudden death decision.
Source: McClatchy Washington Bureau
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